Selectable interval timer for clocks



Oct. 28, 1969 Q ROBlNsON ET AL SELECTABLE INTERVAL TIMER FOR CLOCKS 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 6. 1967 mmw Nun EnK Q W w. AD R 5 14/41, W,$33M Ar-rvs Oct. 28, 1969 A c. RQB|N$QN ET AL 3,474,617

SELECTABLE INTERVAL TIMER FOR CLOCKS Filed June 6, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2llllll INVENTORS RALPH C. Roamsou DAwo Monmsou 400%,W, Any;

United States Patent SELECTABLE INTERVAL TIMER FOR CLOCKS Ralph C.Robinson, Athens, Ga., and David Morrison,

Davidson, N.C., assignors to General Time Corporation, Stamford, Conn.,a corporation of Delaware Filed June 6, 1967, Ser. No. 643,858 Int. Cl.G04b 23/06, 13/00; G04c 21/30 US. Cl. 58-165 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A standard alarm clock modified to give an audible and visualalarm at pre-selected time intervals, from a few to 24 hours, and havinga manual operator which silences the alarm and starts the next timingcycle. The clock is mounted in a case having a pill compartment enablingthe user, alerted by the alarm, to obtain and take medicine.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to alarm clocks andmore particularly concerns a clock capable of signalling at regular,selectable intervals.

Medical treatments, such as the taking of pills, are often prescribedfor regular intervals with the cycle running up to 24-hour, or daily,applications. It is human nature to forget such schedules, particularlywhen they are new and unfamiliar, and also when they become too familiarand without novelty.

It is the aim of the present invention to provide an alarm clockmechanism which can be easily and conveniently set to give a signal atany one of a number of selectable time intervals, thus providing areliable reminder for the taking of medicine or any other repetitiveactivity.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a mechanism of theabove kind which is reliable in operation, capable of economicallarge-scale manufacture, and suitable for incorporation into anotherwise standard clock assembly.

A collateral object is to provide a mechanism of the above kind with acase or housing embodying a lockable pill compartment providing aconvenient place to obtain pills as the user shuts off the intervalsignal and starts the next cycle.

In more detail, it is an object to provide a mechanism as characterizedabove which gives both an audible signal and a visual signal at the endof each timed interval, the visual signal being in the form of a pop-upbutton that, when manually depressed, shuts off the audible alarm, locksin its down or off position, and resets the timing mechanism to start anew cycle of the selected interval.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent uponreading the following detailed description and upon reference to thedrawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective of a clock embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective similar to FIG. 1 but with partsshown in alternate positions;

FIG. 3 is a top plan of the mechanism embodied in the clock of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a rear perspective, somewhat expanded, of a portion of themechanism shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a rear perspective of another portion of the mechanism shownin FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged section taken through a portion of the mechanismshown in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective of the parts shown in FIG. 6.

While the invention will be described in connection with a preferredembodiment, it will be understood that we do not intend to limit theinvention to that embodiment. On the contrary, we intend to cover allalternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included withinthe spirit and scope of the invention.

Turning to the drawings, there is shown a clock 10 embodying theinvention and encased in a housing 11 having a dial 12 over which movesa stack of hands including a second hand 13, a minute hand 14, an hourhand 15 and an alarm setting hand 16. Within the housing, a pair offrame plates 17 and 18 mount the dial 12, the hands 13-15, a synchronousmotor 19 and a timing train 20 driven by the motor 19. The motor 19 hasan output pinion 21 which meshes with a second wheel 22 that is securedto a shaft 23 on which the second hand 13 is mounted. A pinion 24 on theshaft 23 engages a wheel 25 which is frictionally held against a pinion26 by a spring device 27, and the pinion 26 meshes with a minute wheel28 secured to a sleeve 29 on which the minute hand 14 is mounted. Apinion 31 on the sleeve 29 drives, through a wheel 32 and a connectedpinion 33, an hour wheel 34 secured to a sleeve 35 on which the hourhand 15 is mounted.

The clock 10 has a conventional alarm provided by a vibrator anchored tothe rear frame plate 18 in the magnetic field in the motor 19. Thevibrator 40 is normally held disabled, or off, by a lever 41 pivoted ina notch 42 of the frame plate 18 and biased away from the vibrator 40 byone arm of a spring 43. The other end of the lever 41 bears against atrip gear 44 slidably mounted on a shaft 45 and in meshing engagementwith the gear 33 so as to rotate at the speed of the hour gear 34. A camgear 46 is positioned on the shaft 45 adjacent the trip gear 44, and thecam gear is coupled by a pinion 47 to an alarm setting gear 48 on asleeve 49 that carries the alarm setting hand 16. The cam gear 46carries a cam 51, and the trip gear 44 is formed with a slot 52. Whenthe cam 51 is alined with the slot 52, the trip gear 44 can move axiallyand the spring 43 swings the lever 41 away from the vibrator 40 thussounding the alarm.

A manual alarm shut-off bar 53 slides in the frame plate 18 and, whenpushed in, the end of a slot 54 in the bar 53, which embraces the lever41, cams the lever 41 against the vibrator 40. One end of the spring 43detents in notches 55 in the bar 53 to establish alarm set, and alarmotf, positions.

For time setting, a setting shaft with a knob 61 that extends from therear of the housing 11 is mounted for rotation and axial movement in theframe plates 17, 18. Pulling rearwardly on the knob 61 causes a lug 62to engage a slotted collar 63 on the gear 26, thus coupling the knob 61with the minute and hour hands. For alarm setting, the shaft 60 is movedforward so that the lug 62 engages a slotted collor 64 on a wheel 65that meshes with the alarm setting gear 48.

In carrying out the invention, the clock 10 includes a signal device inthe form of a second alarm vibrator 65 fixed to the frame plate 18 inthe magnetic field of the motor 19 and controlled by an arm 66 On asignal lever 67. Preferably, the vibrator 65 is formed dilferently fromthe vibrator 40 so as to have a slightly different sound when freed bythe arm 66.

Pursuant to the invention, a cam in the form of a cam wheel 70 isdrivingly coupled to the timing train 20 and formed with a plurality ofcam tracks for tripping the signal lever 67 and sounding the alarmvibrator 65, a manual control 71 is provided for selecting one of thecam tracks on the cam wheel 70, and each cam track is formed to trip thesignal lever 67 at different time intervals. In the illustratedconstruction, the signal lever 67 is pivoted on a shaft 72 mounted inthe frame plates 17, 18, and the signal lever 67 is biased upwardly by aspring 73 toward a signal-causing position in which the arm 66 clearsthe vibrator 65.

A latch 75 couples the cam wheel 70 and the signal lever 67, and thelatch is shiftably mounted by being pivoted on a shaft 76 extendingbetween the frame plates 17, 18. The signal lever 67 and the latch 75have engageable latching surfaces in the form of an edge 77 on the lever67 and a stub pin 78 on the latch 75. With the pin 78 over the edge 77,the latch 67 is held down against the bias of the spring 73 in thealarmoff position with the arm 66 engaging and disabling the vibrator65.

The cam tracks on the cam wheel 70 and the latch 75 have mutuallyengaging camming means for slightly bending the latch 75 and moving thepin 78 from the edge 77. In the arrangement illustrated, the cam tracksare shallow, radially-spaced, circular grooves 81 in one of the flatfaces of the cam wheel 70, and the camming means includes a finger 82 onthe latch 75 which rides in the grooves 81 and peripherally spaced lobes83 in the grooves 81. Preferably, one of the grooves 81 has no cam lobes83 so that when the finger 82 rides in that groove there will be nooperation of the alarm vibrator 65. In the preferred construction, thecam wheel 70 is driven at a rate of one revolution per 24 hours andthere are five grooves 81; the innermost groove having no lobes, thenext groove having six equally spaced lobes, the next having four lobes,the next groove two lobes, and the outer groove only a single lobe 83.This means that with the finger 82 in the inner groove, the signalvibrator 65 will not sound, with the latch finger in the adjacent groove81 the alarm will sound four hours after each setting, the next grooveestablishes a six-hour cycle, the next a twelvehour cycle, and the outergroove 81 a twenty-four hour or daily cycle for sounding of the alarmvibrator 65.

To set the latch finger 82 into any one selected groove 81, the manualcontrol 71 which extends rearwardly from the housing 11 is fixed to ashaft 85 journalled in the frame plates 17, 18 which carries a pinion 86that meshes with a gear segment 87 formed on the latch 75. Suitableindicia marks 88 are provided on the back of the housing 11. Turning ofthe manual control 71 thus rotates the pinion 87 and drives, through thegear segment '87, the latch 75 about its pivot shaft 76 so as toposition the finger 82 in the groove 81 that corresponds to one of theindicia marks 88. The seating of the finger 82 in one of the grooves 81provides a detenting action that holds the latch 75 in the position setby the control 71.

For coupling the cam wheel 70 to the timing train 20, the cam wheel isjournalled on a shaft 91 adjacent a driver 92 which is frictionallyengaged for rotation with a gear wheel 93. The gear wheel 93 isconnected by an intermediate wheel 94 to the pinion 33 so as to rotateat the desired one revolution per 24-hours rate. In the illustratedconstruction, the driver 92 is fixed to a hub 95 that is splined to theshaft 91, and a spring device 96 presses, through an anti-wear disk 97,the gear wheel 93 against the driver 92 to establish a frictional drive.A one-way connection between the driver 92 and the cam wheel 70 isprovided, in the preferred arrangement, by a pin 98 on the cam wheel 70fitting in an arcuate slot 99 in the driver 92.

The gear wheel 93 rotates clockwise as seen in FIG. at a constant rate,frictionally pulling the driver 92 also clockwise. The end of the slot99 abuts the pin 98 so as to drive the cam wheel 70 also clockwise. Theshaft 91 carries a manual control 100 that extends rearwardly from theclock housing 11 and which permits manual turning of the driver 92 andhence rotation of the cam wheel 70 ahead of the gear wheel 93. It willalso be seen that the cam wheel 70 can be advanced ahead of the driver92 by virtue of the one-way connection; the pin 98 simply moving awayfrom the end of the slot 99.

In keeping with the invention, a manual control is provided for movingthe signal level 67 to off position, thus silencing the alarm vibrator65, and a pawl 102 on the signal lever 67 is arranged to advance the camwheel 70 when the signal lever 67 moves to off position, thus separatingthe finger 82 from the cam lobe 83 that tripped the alarm into action.In the preferred arrangement, the manual alarm-off control is a signalbutton 103 slidably mounted in the top of the housing 11 and bearing asuitable legend. The button 103 is secured to a slide bar 104 which, inturn, is connected to the signal lever 67 by a pin 105 and a slot 106connection. The pin and slot connection 105, 106 gives some freedom forthe parts to float so that slight misalinement between the frame platemounted signal level 67 and the housing guided button 103 will not causebinding in their operation. When the signal lever 67 moves up tosignal-causing position, the button 103 rises (see FIG. 2) giving avisual signal that the alarm has sounded. Pushing the button 103 downmoves the signal lever 67 back to its 011 position.

The pawl 102 is pivoted at 108 on the signal lever 67 and formed with afinger portion 109 which engages a circular array of ratchet teeth 110formed on the cam wheel 70. A spring 111 is interposed between the pawl102 and the signal lever 67 to bias the finger portion 109 toward theratchet teeth 110. A tail portion 112 on the pawl 102 is positioned toabut a post 113 extending between the frame plates 17, 18 and preventexcessive counterclockwise movement of the pawl 102 under the force ofthe spring 111. In operation, movement of the signal lever 67 down tooff position causes the pawl finger portion 109 to engage the ratchetteeth 110 and slightly advance the cam wheel 70. It will be recalledthat the signal lever 67 is unlatched for movement to signal-cans ingposition by one of th cam lobes 83 engaging the finger 82 to shift thelatch pin 78 from the edge 77. When the pawl 102 slightly advances thecam Wheel 70 incident to turning the alarm off, the actuating lobe 83 ismoved from under the finger 82 and the latch 75 is ready to return tolatching position with the pin 78 snapping over the edge 77 as soon asthe signal lever 67 reaches its off position. This movement of the ca mwheel 70 does not disturb the timing interval because of the one-wayconnection between the cam wheel 70 and the driver 92. The slightadvance movement of the cam wheel through the pawl 102 simply pulls thepin 98 away from the end of the slot 99 and the cam wheel 70 simplywaits until the lost motion is taken up and the end of the slot 99catches up to the pin 98 and resumes drive of the cam wheel.

As a feature of the invention, the housing 10 is formed with a smallpill compartment 115 preferably having a top 116 which can be opened andclosed. The compartment 115 provides a convenient place to store pillsbeing taken under the scheduling of the clock 10.

Operation of the clock can now be readily seen. The clock can functionin the normal manner of an alarm clock, with the user controlling thesetting of the hands and operation of the alarm vibrator 40 through thesetting knob 61 and the alarm shut-oil bar 53. With the manual control71 set in the zero position so that the finger 82 rides in the camgroove 81 having no lobes, the alarm vibrator 61 will remain silent.

To use the interval timing feature, the control 71 is set to the desiredinterval, from four to twenty-four hours in the embodiment described.The manual control 100 is then turned to advance the cam wheel 70 untila lobe in the selected cam track 81 shifts the latch 75 and causes thealarms, both the audible vibrator 65 and the button 103, to go intooperation. The user then presses the button 103 down and the device isset to sound the alarm again at the end of the next selected interval.Each time the alarm sounds, pressing the button 103 resets the mechanismfor another one of the selected intervals. The pill compartment 115remains readily accessible each time the alarm is turned oif and reset.

It can thus be seen that the clock can be easily manipnlated much in themanner of a normal alarm clock. The mechanism is reliable and capable oflarge-scale, economical production.

We claim as our invention:

1. A clock comprising, in combination, a stack of hands, a driven timingtrain coupled to said hands, a cam drivingly coupled to said timingtrain and having a plurality of cam tracks, an alarm signal, meanspositioned to be tripped from a set position by any one of said camtracks to operate said signal, a first manual operator for resettingsaid means, and a second manual operator for selecting which of said camtracks will trip said means, each of said cam tracks being formed totrip said means at different time intervals as said cam is driven.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which said clock is encased in ahousing, and said housing includes a compartment for storing pills orthe like.

3. In a clock having a frame mounting a driven timing train, thecombination comprising, a cam wheel drivingly coupled to said timingtrain and having a plurality of spaced cam tracks, a signal levermounted on said frame for movement between off and signal-causingpositions and having a latching surface, a signal device positioned tobe operated when said signal lever is in said signalcausing position, alatch shifta'bly mounted on said frame and having a latching surfaceengageable with the latching surface of said signal lever to hold thelever in off position, said cam tracks and said latch having mutuallyengaging camming means for moving said latch to release said signallever and with each track being adapted to cause a different number oflever releasing latch movements in one complete revolution of said camwheel, a first manual control for moving said signal lever fromsignal-causing position to off position, and a second manual control forshifting said latch to bring the camming means thereon into cooperativerelation with a selected one of said tracks.

4. The combination of claim 3 in which one of said cam tracks has nocamming means so that, when said latch camming means is in cooperativerelation with that track, the latch does not release said signal leverupon rotation of said cam wheel.

5. The combination of claim 3 in which said cam tracks are shallow,radially spaced, circular grooves in one fiat face of said cam wheel,and said camming means includes a finger on said latch and peripherallyspaced lobes formed in said grooves.

6. The combination of claim 3 in which said signal device is an audiblealarm, and said first manual control is a button coupled to said signallever and comprising a visual signal when shifted by said lever as thelever moves to said signal-causing position.

7. The combination of claim 6 including an outer housing, said buttonbeing slidably mounted in said housing, and said housing having acompartment for storing pills or the like.

8. In a clock having a frame mounting a driven timing train, thecombination comprising, a gear wheel coupled to said train for constantrotation, a cam wheel freely journalled adjacent said gear wheel, saidcam wheel having a circular array of ratchet teeth and a plurality ofspaced cam tracks, a driver frictionally engaged for rotation with saidgear Wheel and having a one-way connection for advancing said cam wheel,a signal lever mounted on said frame for movement between off andsignalcausing positions and having a latching surface, means biasingsaid lever toward said signal-causing position, a pawl on said signallever positioned to engage said ratchet teeth and advance said cam wheelwhen the signal lever moves to said off position, a signal deviceposition to be operated when said signal lever is in said signal-causingposition, a latch shiftably mounted on said frame and having a latchingsurface engageable with the latching surface of said signal lever tohold the lever against said bias in off position, said cam tracks andsaid latch having mutually engaging camming means for moving said latchto release said signal lever and with each track being adapted to causea different number of lever releasing latch movements in one completerevolution of said cam wheel, a first manual control for moving saidsignal lever from signal-causing position to off position, a secondmanual control for shifting said latch to bring the camming meansthereon into cooperative relation with a selected one of said tracks,and a third manual control for rotating said driver in its cam wheeladvancing direction.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,264,897 5/1918 Case.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner J. F. GONZALES, AssistantExaminer US. Cl. X.R. 5821.15

